VBS

Wow! Yesterday kicked off VBS at my church and we had 251! Can you believe that? Phew...that's a bunch of kids right there! I am teaching the 5th and 6th grade and we had 25 kids in one little bitty room. Adjustments had to be made and I had kids sitting in the hallway, kids sitting in the classroom, kids here, kids there and I stood in the doorway but it was so much fun!

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Naturally with VBS going on my mind is centered around the Bible verses and the Bible stories we are discussing this week. One in particular has my mind just a spinning. It is the story of Jesus walking on water.

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"As soon as the meal was finished, he insisted that the disciples get in the boat and go on ahead to the other side while he dismissed the people. With the crowd dispersed, he climbed the mountain so he could be by himself and pray. He stayed there alone, late into the night. Meanwhile, the boat was far out to sea when the wind came up against them and they were battered by the waves. At about four o'clock in the morning, Jesus came toward them walking on the water. They were scared out of their wits. "A ghost!" they said, crying out in terror. But Jesus was quick to comfort them. "Courage, it's me. Don't be afraid." Peter, suddenly bold, said, "Master, if it's really you, call me to come to you on the water." He said, "Come ahead." Jumping out of the boat, Peter walked on the water to Jesus. But when he looked down at the waves churning beneath his feet, he lost his nerve and started to sink. He cried, "Master, save me!" Jesus didn't hesitate. He reached down and grabbed his hand. Then he said, "Faint-heart, what got into you?" The two of them climbed into the boat, and the wind died down. The disciples in the boat, having watched the whole thing, worshiped Jesus, saying, "This is it! You are God's Son for sure!" Matthew 14:22-33 (MSG)

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The thing that really got me about this story is not that Jesus walked on water but that Peter walked on the water too as long as he kept his eyes on Jesus! How many times in our lives do we look at what is below our feet and see other people's opinions, other people's sneers, we fear that we don't know what we are doing, we begin to question our very own intentions and before long we aren't even remotely looking at Jesus. We aren't even anywhere near where Jesus would have us be because we are too busy looking at what is under our feet! Hmmm...what if we lived our lives with the faith that the only thing beneath our feet was the hands of Jesus?